The Media

Based on the number of newspapers, publishers, radio stations, and
television networks in the country, Mexico is considered the media power
center of Spanish-speaking Latin America. Mexico's mainstream newspapers
and periodicals range in political ideology and independence from the
official government newspaper El Nacional to the left-wing
independent El Proceso . Although the press was for many years
generally pro-establishment and supportive of the PRI, it diversified
during the 1980s to reflect a wider spectrum of opinion. In early 1994,
the government postponed its stated plans to sell El Nacional
to private owners but declared that the newspaper would no longer
receive public funding.

The constitution of 1917 explicitly guarantees freedom of the press.
Article 7 forbids prior censorship, and an amendment to Article 6
adopted in 1977 declares that "the right of information will be
guaranteed by the state." However, these guarantees are highly
qualified in practice. The Press Law of 1917, for instance, restricts
the press on matters of personal privacy, morality, and public health.
Many other regulations govern the news media. The 1960 Law on Radio and
Television, for instance, forbids the broadcast of material deemed
offensive to national heroes.

Although nominally independent, the news media are subject to a
variety of mainly indirect economic and political pressures from the
government. The Secretariat of Communi-cations and Transport supervises
the news media, granting publishing and broadcast licenses and ensuring
adherence to the media laws. Successive PRI governments have influenced
the news media by paying individual journalists for favorable coverage,
by restricting access to newsprint and ink (the state monopolizes the
production of both, although this control was somewhat reduced under
President Salinas), by withholding information from critical
journalists, and especially by granting or withholding government
advertising, an important source of revenue for the press. Many
newspapers accept government payments for the insertion of official
announcements disguised as editorials. Occasionally, the government
provides indirect financial inducements to particular journalists (for
example, by offering them part of the payment for official advertising
run by their newspapers). Some journalists and opposition political
parties have accused the government of trying to conceal the extent of
official subsidies to journalists by redirecting payoffs through the
PRI's Office of Information.

Government tolerance of press freedoms varies according to the
sensitivities of the president in office. Traditionally, the media avoid
direct criticism of an incumbent president. On sensitive issues
affecting the government, the press provides only minimal coverage.
Among the many unwritten rules is one that says that journalists are
expected to respect the image of the president and other high-level
government officials.

In essence, government policies may be criticized, but elected
individuals must not be ridiculed. Since the early 1980s, the trend
toward a more open political debate has brought greater tolerance of
criticism in the media. Some argue that this tolerance, which has
occurred faster than the increasing democratization of the political
system, has definitively contributed to increasing public awareness of
the need for changes within the Mexican political system.

Television is highly biased toward the official party, as illustrated
by the open support the Televisa network gives to the government.
Televisa is part of Mexican Telesystem (Telesistema Mexicano),
considered the biggest communications conglomerate in the developing
world, as well as one of the world's major transnational media empires.
Televisa's political and economic influence in Mexico is extensive.
Aside from the ownership of television and radio stations, it has
significant interests in newsprint and publishing, record production,
home videos, cinemas, advertising and marketing, real estate, tourism,
sports, and the food processing and transport industries.

Mexico City has fifteen newspapers; its dailies account for more than
50 percent of the national circulation. In 1994 there were eight
newspapers in Mexico City with a daily circulation of more than 100,000
issues: Esto (450,000), La Prensa (300,000), Novedades
(240,000), Ovaciones (220,000), El Heraldo de México (209,600),
Excélsior (200,000), El Financiero (135,000), and El
Universal (122,000). Excélsior is the most prestigious
national daily and one of the most prominent newspapers in Latin
America, known for its breadth of coverage, analytical style, and
relative independence. The oldest of the traditional newspapers is El
Universal , closely associated with the government throughout the
1970s, but currently known for its independence in reporting. El
Nacional is the official newspaper of the federal government. The
largest newspaper group is the Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM),
which owns some ninety newspapers throughout the country. The second
largest publishing group is Novedades Editores, which is part of the
Telesistema Mexicano conglomerate. Some of the leading daily newspapers,
such as Excélsior and La Prensa , are run as
cooperatives.

There are five national news agencies: Notimex, Infomex, Noti-Acción,
Notipress, and Agencia Mexicana de Información. Infomex is the largest,
with almost 100 offices throughout the country and some twenty foreign
correspondents. All leading international agencies have bureaus in
Mexico City.

National broadcasting stations are divided into commercial and
cultural networks. All commercial stations are financed by advertising
(both public and private) but must provide 12 percent of broadcasting
time for government use. All cultural stations are operated by
government agencies or by educational institutions. Media analysts
expect that the economic policies pursued by the Salinas and Zedillo
administrations will have a major impact on the media by further
reducing state intervention and promoting the concentration of private
ownership.